The purchase, sale, and use of transaction cards such as debit cards, gift cards, credit cards, telephone cards and the like has dramatically increased to the point where the cards are well known and their uses are widely recognized. At times, cards are printed and issued with a predetermined balance and typically sold as a retail item. However, a typical card is often stored or displayed in a non-inactivated state to reduce the risk of theft. This essentially renders the activable card valueless until it is activated by a retailer or another party upon purchase by the end user.
Despite these security features, activable cards (sometimes referred to as point-of-sale (POS) cards) are still stolen or subject to tampering and fraud, often by removing the card from its packaging. At other times, the theft can be more surreptitious. For example, the would-be thief may only remove a card from its packaging long enough to obtain proprietary account data as an account number or a PIN number, after which the card is returned to its packaging. In some instances, this information may be accessible without removing the card from the packaging. The thief can then wait until the card is activated and at that time gain unauthorized access to any value associated with the card. At other times, a would-be thief (possibly a retailer employee) may attempt to activate a card without authorization such that no indication of the activation may be detected. Thus, a card may be activated and the thief may gain unauthorized access to the funds associated with the card without evidence of the unauthorized activation.
Packaging with enhanced security that is capable of indicating unauthorized access to an activable card and/or activation data associated therewith reduces shrinkage due to theft of card value. As cards become more widely used internationally, new challenges arise that call for new solutions.